


The Break Up

by gosmurfyourself



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 11:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19172434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gosmurfyourself/pseuds/gosmurfyourself
Summary: Set sometime in AU Season 3. Annie needs to talk to Jeff and Jeff is struggling to understand. I'm bad at summaries.





	The Break Up

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime in AU Season 3. This is a one shot but I'm also thinking of doing a longer sequel. *shrug*

 

“I think we should break up.”

He stared at her in disbelief. The words coming out of her mouth didn’t make any sense. He had heard those words before; separately and together. He knew what those words meant but his brain couldn’t understand their meaning when coming out of her mouth. “What?” She sighed in defeat. He shook his head as he slid his hand into hers. “No.” She looked at him. “Talk to me. What did you say? What are you saying?”

She bit her lip as she looked down at their hands. “Jeff…”

He sighed. “Annie, please, look at me.” She took a deep breath before looking at him. He squeezed her hand. “What are you saying?”

Annie slipped her hand out of his grasp as she took another deep breath. He frowned in confusion. She straightened her posture out of the slumped over position it was in. She needed to do this. She needed to be firm. “Jeff…” He stared at her. Usually, he loved how she said his name but it was different this time. It was sad. It sounded like a goodbye and he didn’t care for it one bit. “I think we should break up.”

Jeff blinked. He was still. Annie eyed him warily. His stillness was making her uneasy. She had never seen him so still before. It was eerie. Jeff cleared his throat. “You…” He was trying to speak. He was trying to say the words but they felt foreign to him. His tongue felt big and clumsy in his mouth. His heart felt weird. It was racing and a pounding started in his head. “You think we should break up?” She nodded. The moment he saw her nod, he started to hear sirens going off in his head. If Abed was there, he would say they sounded like the sirens in “Kill Bill”. Jeff stretched his neck to ease some tension. Whatever or however he appeared to be on the outside, it was the complete opposite on the inside. His brain was yelling about Annie being the one person who would never leave him and how it didn’t make any sense. His mind was telling him to fight this. Use his charm and lawyer skills to fight this and change her mind. Annie loved him. He loved her. They were happy together. What the hell happened to change all that?! “You think we should break up?” She nodded. “Why do you think we should break up?”

Her eyebrows furrowed together. “Why do you keep repeating it?” He gave her a look. She nodded slowly. “This isn’t working between us and I think the best solution is to break up now. This way we can preserve our friendship.”

He nodded in a slow and deliberate manner. “To…to preserve our friendship…?”

She couldn’t make sense of his reaction or his lack of one. He was being eerily calm and talking very slowly. It was very…unlike Jeff. She didn’t expect him to react this way. Annie expected some kind of reaction from him. Some kind of emotion. She stared at his blank face before shaking her head slightly. She wasn’t doing this to get a reaction out of him. She would never break up with Jeff just for a reaction. She never thought she would break up with him. She was in love him. She wanted to be with him but he made it clear over and over that he didn’t want to be with her. “Yes, we were friends before we got together and, even though we’re breaking up, I still want us to be in each other’s lives and be friends…like before.”

“Like…before…?”

Annie threw her hands up in frustration. “Jeff, would you stop talking like a roofied robot?!” He blinked. “I need you to participate in this conversation, please?!” He tried to respond but he couldn’t. He couldn’t understand what has happening. The minute she said she wanted to break up, his mind went blank and he couldn’t function. He knew she was mad at him. He knew he was blowing it. How could he convince her breaking up was a horrible and ridiculous idea when he wouldn’t fucking speak?! Annie’s eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Unbelievable!”

Jeff watched her as she grabbed her bag and stood up. She stared at him and groaned when he stayed still. He felt rather than saw her walking farther away from him as she walked to the door. The air was leaving his lungs with each step she took. The sirens he was hearing finally stopped and all he was able to hear was him yell out “NO!” He jumped over the couch and raced towards the door. He stood in front of her just as she reached the door. She jumped back and yelped in surprise. “Don’t go!” Her eyes were wide as she stared at him. “Talk to me!”

She scoffed. “You want to talk _now_ ?!” He nodded. “What changed?” He rubbed his eyes. “I was trying to talk to you about breaking up, but you ignored me! Now, you want to talk just when I’m about to leave?! Are you kidding me?!”

“Annie, please-”

“No, Jeff!” He looked at her in surprise. “You had your chance to talk. You gave it up.” He shook his head aggressively. She huffed out an empty laugh. “I was hoping I was wrong, but you proved me right.” His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “You don’t want to be with me.” His mouth hung open in shock. “You kept showing me in different ways you didn’t want to be with me or at least not where other people would know we were together. If we were alone, you were fine with us being us.” She shook her head and wiped her eyes quickly. “Once we were out in public, especially at school, you acted like I was just some girl you knew. You kept showing me repeatedly I wasn’t good enough to be with the great Jeff Winger!” He couldn’t believe his ears. She wasn’t making any sense. He knew she deserved better than him. She deserved more than he had to offer. How could she think he was embarrassed by being with her? She should have been embarrassed about being with something like him! “I kept giving you the benefit of the doubt. I kept telling them ‘oh you should see how he treats me when we are alone together! He really does love me!’ They would tell me it counts how you treat me in public but no, I knew better!” She rolled her eyes at herself. “Well, they were right! Today was the last straw! This one-sided conversation just made it even more clear!” 

He had no idea where to begin. How could she think he was embarrassed by her? What the hell happened today to make it the last straw? Who is ‘they’ and how can he hurt them? Annie moved around him and opened the door. His brain was finally catching up. _“Say something, idiot! She’s leaving you! Make it stop! Make her stay! Do something! Say something! You are going to lose her for good if you don’t do something! OPEN YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!”_ He blocked her from leaving. She glared at him. “Annie, I’m sorry.” She scoffed. “I…my brain stopped working when you said you wanted to break up.” Her stance softened slightly when he said that. “I…I couldn’t process exactly what was happening fast enough. I…I…” He cleared his throat. “I’m able to talk now.” She sighed. “Can we talk now? I promise it will be a real conversation now…not a one-sided one.”

Annie eyed him closely for a few moments before nodding. “Yes. Yes, we can talk now, Jeff.” They walked back over to his couch slowly. He hovered next to her. He was afraid if he stepped away, she would use it as an excuse to leave and he couldn’t let that happen. If she left now, there would be no way he would be able to convince her to stay and give him another chance. They sat down and faced each other. She stared at him. “OK. Let’s talk.” He nodded. She kept staring at him before rolling her eyes. “It’s your turn to talk, Jeff.”

Jeff nodded quickly. “I know I kept repeating the words you were saying, and I don’t want to start down that parroting road again, but I do have to ask: do you really want to break up?” She sighed and nodded. “B-But why? You said you loved me. Did…did that change?”

Her eyes widened as she shook her head aggressively. “No! Jeff, no, I do love you! That hasn’t changed!”

He shrugged. “Then why do you want to break up with me, Annie? I just don’t get it. If you love me, why do you want to break up? You said something about today being the last straw. What happened today that became the last straw and what the hell was the first straw?!” She blinked. Jeff felt all his emotions surging forward. He felt lightheaded as he started to allow his feelings to come through. “What do you mean I’ve shown you repeatedly I don’t want to be with you?! What do you mean I treat you like a girl I just happen to know in public?! Who are they and what have they been saying to you to make you change your mind about us?!” He stood up and started to pace. “What the hell, Annie?!”

She felt her mouth gaping open at his outburst. She wanted him to show his emotions and he certainly was starting to. She grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him down to sit next to her on the couch. He kept hold of her hand after he sat down. She hesitated a moment before caressing his cheek. He leaned into her hand and had a small smile on his face. “I do love you, Jeff. I’ve never loved anyone like you before and I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you.” His smile grew. “I honestly never thought we would end up together because of…well, you know.” He nodded and sighed. “Between the two of us, I don’t think I know who was more surprised by you showing up at my apartment that night to ask me out.” He laughed lightly. She had a pained look on her face as she pulled her hand away from his face. “I knew our age difference made things…complicated for you. I won’t say I was all gung-ho about it at first either but at the end of day, I just wanted to be with you.” He nodded slowly. “I knew you would need some time to be comfortable with it so I did everything I could to help. I wasn’t all over you at school or in public…not that I would have been because there’s a time and place.” He laughed and nodded. “Plus, you were so…attentive to me when we were alone. I thought it would all work itself out in time since we got along so well in private and it would just be a matter of time before you felt comfortable with being with me in public like you were in private.”  
He smiled. “I am, Annie.” 

She wouldn’t look at him. “Jeff, how can you say that? We both know that is just not true.” 

Jeff looked dumbfounded. He was being truthful. At least, he thought he was being truthful. His thoughts became overwhelmed of him holding her hand or putting his arm around her shoulders while walking to class or just walking around campus. His mouth twitched with a held in smile when he remembered a time or two of pretending to be tired and leaning on her back asking her to carry him to his next class. She would giggle and roll her eyes. He rubbed his eyes. Just as quickly as the good and happy memories flooded in, the bad…or rather not-so-great ones followed. The ones where he would drop her hand as if it burnt him. The ones where he would take a few steps away from him if he thought they were too close when walking down the halls at school. He saw the knowing stares of other people and the creepy thumbs up Starburns would give him. He remembered a few times where the study group would be in the cafeteria and talking. Annie would be saying something, and he would just interrupt her to tell Troy or Abed something trivial or something that ripped what she was saying to shred. He slumped against the couch in a sense of dumbfounded realization. He had promised her he would respect her. He had promised her he would take care of her and her feelings. He promised the study group as well. He may not have promised them in words, but it was a mutual understanding between the seven of them that he would, for once, not be a selfish ass and be with Annie Edison in every sense of the word. He failed them. He failed her. He failed himself. “Maybe…maybe you’re right.” Her eyebrow rose. Jeff rubbed his eyes. He could already hear the nonstop lecture and yelling he would receive from everyone, especially Shirley and Britta. His eyes darted right to her. “Shirley and Britta?” She looked at him in question. “They are the ‘they’, aren’t they?”

Annie’s face scrunched up. “The ‘they’ of it all doesn’t matter, Jeff.” He scoffed. “It doesn’t! This is about us. I wouldn’t make a decision like this…a decision as important as this based on other people’s opinions. This is something that has been building and I think deep down you know that.” He sighed. “This is happening because of past actions. You’ve always been embarrassed by me in some way.”

His eyes widened. “That is completely untrue!”

Her eyebrow rose. “So, I imagined the kiss we shared at the Tranny Dance and you telling me it was a huge mistake after it was over?” He held in a groan. “Am I also imagining where you basically ignored me and my feelings regarding that night for the rest of that year too? Is that what we are saying now?” He was going to be paying for that for the rest of his life and he knew it. He had screwed up. If he could go back and change that night, he would have but he knew he wasn’t ready for someone like her just yet. He thought he was ready when he asked her out ten months ago. He thought he was ready when he told her he loved her. He was in love with her. He thought he was ready when he gave her a key to his apartment and told her to use it whenever she wanted. He thought he made it clear he was all in when it came to their relationship. He was still working on his issues and still working on his uneasiness about their age difference, his fears of holding her back from greatness, and his fears of dragging her down to his jaded and cynical level if she continued to be with him. He had made strides, as his therapist said. He did and he knew it, but he also knew he had a ways to go before he could be more open about his feelings. “Jeff-”

He looked at her “I can’t take any of it back.” She nodded slowly. “I don’t know that I would.” She gasped. He held in a smile. “I just mean I wasn’t ready for you then. You weren’t ready for me either.” She nodded and shrugged. He sighed. “I know this hasn’t…” She looked at him. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to have this conversation today…or at all.”

She had a pained look on her face. “Jeff, I’m sorry.” He stared at her. “I…I don’t want to hurt you. I didn’t just wake up this morning and decided to ‘shake things up’.” He smiled sadly. “I have been thinking about this for a while.”

“How long?”

“What?”

“How long have you been thinking about this?”

“I already told you-”

“You said this has been building. I just want to know how long I’ve been a dead man walking without realizing it? How long have I thought we were happy while you already had one foot out the door?”

She glared at him. “That’s not the way it happened, and you know it! That’s not fair!” He shrugged. “You don’t get to change history to suit your needs or your agenda!”

He smirked. “Well, Annie, history is made up of stories people tell to suit their needs or suit their agenda.”

She closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. He eyed her warily. Her neck and face were turning pink. He knew it was only a matter of time before she blew a gasket. She opened her eyes and he felt his insides shrink when their eyes met. He was losing her, and he knew it. He couldn’t annoy her to the point she found him reluctantly endearing like usual. He could see she was trying to keep it together. “You asked what the first straw was.” She said quietly. He nodded slowly. “We just went back to school. We had been together for two…maybe three months. We were talking and as I was leaving, someone asked if I was your girlfriend. Do you remember your answer?” He felt a pit in his stomach as he shook his head. “You scoffed and said ‘oh no. That’s just a friend.’” He stared at her. “I didn’t know it was the first straw until a few weeks ago. Why would I? We talked about it. You said you weren’t sure we were telling people.” She scoffed. “We told our friends but random people on the campus? Nope! Why would we?” She let out a shaky breath. “I thought I shouldn’t push. You were still getting used to being with me as a part of a couple instead of just as a friend. It’s only natural. I ignored them when they told me to say something.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She smiled sadly. “I did. We talked it out. You apologized for hurting my feelings. You explained it all away. I still felt…like I had a pit in my stomach, but I was convinced everything would work out and we’d get over that bump. It wasn’t a big deal.”

He had a pained look on his face. “I remember saying it.” She looked at him in surprise. “It just rolled off my tongue like it was nothing. At that point, I was so used to saying, ‘my friend Annie’ especially at school.” She nodded slowly. “I…it felt like a huge shock when I realized I just said ‘friend’ when you were my girlfriend. I didn’t realize you had heard me until we talked.” She nodded. “Annie, I never said that to hurt you. It was just a habit.”

She nodded. “I know that.”

“Do you?” She sighed and nodded. “What was the last straw?” Her eyebrow rose in question. He blinked in confusion. “Why are you staring at me like that?” She rolled her eyes. His confusion grew. “What am I missing, Annie?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I saw you flirting with some blonde floozy in the cafeteria and you got her number.” His eyes widened as he burst with laughter. Outrage took over her features as she stood up. “Go to hell, Jeff!”

He couldn’t stop laughing as he stopped her from walking away. “Annie, wait, no! I’m not laughing at you! I’m laughing at what happened!” She glared at him. “It was a misunderstanding! It wasn’t flirting!”

“What the hell are you talking about, Jeff?”

Jeff made her sit. “Abed and Troy were with me. We were talking and Troy saw this hot girl from his English class.” He held in a gulp when he saw the look on her face. “His words. Not mine.” She nodded. “He pointed behind me so I could see her. He neglected to tell me she was bending over to pick up her bag right by me so when I went to turn around, my face was right in her butt.” Her eyes bulged. “I apologized and explained my ill-timed turn. I told her it was Troy’s fault. She gave me her number and said Troy should call her some time.”

Annie eyed him closely. “Why would she give you her number when she wanted Troy to have it?”

He shrugged. “No idea. She was looking right at him too before giving me the number to pass to him.”

She sighed and nodded. “I see.”

He smiled. “It was a complete misunderstanding.” She sighed. “You believe me, don’t you?” She nodded. He sighed in relief. “Good. Now, what do you want for dinner?” She looked at him oddly. “What?”

She shook her head slightly. “You want to talk about dinner when we are in the middle of breaking up?”

His eyebrow rose. “We’re not breaking up. We talked out the last straw. You told me what’s wrong. We’re fine now. We don’t have to break up.”

“Yes, we do.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Why? We worked everything out. You know what really happened today. We don’t need to break up.”

She sighed. “Jeff, do you know how that made me feel today?” He nodded slowly. “Just because you explained it doesn’t mean it takes everything else I’m feeling away.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jeff.”

“No.”

“No what?”

“No, we aren’t breaking up!” She blinked. He ran a hand through his hair. “We aren’t breaking up because Troy wanted to have a laugh and tricked me!” She stared at the floor. “Annie, I am sorry I made you feel like I didn’t care or respect our relationship because I do. I love you. We talked. I’ll make a conscious effort not to be a dick in public when it comes to you or us, but we aren’t breaking up, not over a trick Troy played!”

“Jeff-”

“Annie-!”

Annie held up her hand. “Please, let me finish!” He gritted his teeth and nodded. “I don’t know how many times you need me to tell you this, but this wasn’t just something I decided on a whim and it wasn’t solely based on what happened today.” It took everything he had in him to keep his face neutral. “This has been building.” She sighed. “And,” She placed her hand on his. He looked at her. “I need you to know this isn’t…the blame isn’t all yours. I know I’m at fault too.” He looked at her in surprise. She shrugged. “I shouldn’t have shied away from pushing you about our relationship. I should have been honest about all my feelings.”

His thumb glided across the back of her hand. “Why didn’t you?” She looked at him. He had a small smile on his face. “You’re _the_ Annie Edison.” She huffed out a laugh. “You take on the world whenever the opportunity strikes. Why didn’t you tell me or force me to listen?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I thought you’d see me as an insecure kid reading into things.” He winced at her words. “I know I should have talked to you.”

Jeff felt a glimmer of hope. “We can talk now.” She looked at him in question. “We can talk things out now.” She sighed. “You still love me.” She nodded eagerly. “I love you.” She smiled. “All we need to do is talk things out now. Even if we need to talk for days on end, we will so we can fix things.” Surprise jolted insider her. Jeff never wanted to work at anything ever, but he wanted to work on their relationship. She didn’t expect this. She didn’t know what she expected but it wasn’t this. “So, let’s talk now.” He squeezed her hand when all she did was stare at him. “Annie?” She bit her lip. “What is it?”

She blinked. “Y-You want to talk and work things out?”

He nodded. “Of course I do.” He eyed her closely. “You…you didn’t think I would, did you?” She sighed and shrugged. “Did you really think I would just be ok with you breaking up with me?” She looked away, guiltily. He looked stunned. “Wow! You have a lot of faith in me, don’t you?”

Annie tightened her hold on his hand to prevent him from leaving. “I-” He shook his head. “Jeff, I didn’t know how you’d react!” He rolled his eyes. “I’m being honest! I didn’t know if you’d be upset or…or relieved-!”

His eyes widened. “Relieved?! Did you just say ‘relieved’?!” She winced at his tone. “Annie, what the hell?! How could you think I would be relieved?!”

“I don’t know! OK, I don’t know! One minute, you can’t keep away from me and the next, you act like I’m a stranger! I didn’t know which version of you I was going to get! I wasn’t even sure you still wanted to be with me after today!”

Jeff could feel his chest tightening. “I’ve never said…” She looked at him. His lungs felt restricted. “I…I would tell women I loved them to get the into bed.” She paled. “I’ve only meant it twice.” He looked at her. “When I said it to my mother and to you.” She smiled. He closed his eyes when she rested her forehead against his cheek. “I can’t Winger Speech my way out of this, can I?”

She sniffed. “I’m sorry, Jeff.”

His thumbs wiped her eyes. “Don’t be. I deserve it.” She shook her head. He smiled sadly. “I haven’t been treating you the way you deserve so I do deserve this.”

Her bottom lip quivered. “C-Can we still be friends?”

Jeff kissed her forehead. “I honestly can’t imagine not having you in my life.” She smiled slightly. “You’ve become my best friend.”

Annie hiccupped. “You’re mine too.” He smiled. “I love you, Jeff. I really do. I just need some time.”

He held her close to him and breathed in her scent. “I know, Annie.” She nodded. He held her face in his hands. “I love you, Annie Edison.”

She smiled. “I love you too, Jeff Winger.” They held on to each other as they kissed. When things started to become heated, she pulled away and let out a shaky breath. “I should go. Troy and Abed are waiting.”

He nodded. “Yeah.” He looked at her. “Do they know?” She nodded quickly. “When-?”

She shrugged. “Half an hour before I came here.”

He nodded before getting up to walk her to the front door. They hugged tightly. He kissed her. “One for the road.”

She smiled sadly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jeff.”

He nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Annie.”


End file.
